- A GIMP template for Material Design
- An updated Android Icon Image Export Script for GIMP
A GIMP template for Material Design
In many cases it may be safest to create your icon as vector art. But it will also frequently be more convenient to use GIMP.
Launcher icons are 48dp x 48dp in size, which means they are 48 x 48 pixels for mdpi screens. However you will want to create icons for different screen pixel densities, and hence different pixel sizes. Typically you will need sizes up to xxx-hdpi, with a pixel size of 192 x 192. You will find other templates are created at this size so they can be down-scaled to smaller screen sizes.
However, If you want to reuse your launcher icon for the Google Play Store, you will also need a high resolution graphic at 512 x 512 pixels. You could use a different graphic entirely, one with more detailed lines and features, or you may want to create a single original with high enough resolution to be used for the Play store and downscale it for your launcher icons.
The GIMP template I have created is 576 x 576 pixels (an even 12 times 48). This means you will need to downscale for the Play store icon, but down-scaling a bitmap is better than up-scaling right? The following describes it's key features:
- The template file has a pre-defined grid interval of 12 pixels (1dp), corresponding to one pixel in the down-scaled 48x48 pixel icon. You may need to turn on the grid from the View menu.
- It also has vertical and horizontal guidelines pre-configured for the same positions as the Google example here.
- The template includes the diagonal guidelines, the small circle guideline and the four basic template shapes (square, landscape rectangle, portrait rectangle and circle) as paths. You can use the paths to create objects. To do this, open the paths dialog window (from the Windows - Dockable Dialogs menu), right click on your chosen path and select "Stroke Path." You can then fill the outline that this creates.
Download the template here:
Material Design Template for GIMP
Android Icon Image Export Script for GIMP
If you are making Launcher icons with the template above, you'll be needing to resize and export for a number of graphic sizes, and you'll need to move those graphics to various folders for your Android project.
To simplify this, you can use the Android Icon Maker GIMP Script that I posted previously.
I have updated the Script making the following changes:
- I've now added a "custom" option for the graphic size in dp units (previously it was pre-configured for three image types).
- I've added a 512x512 pixel image option. This option is independent of the graphic size and is designed for Play Store launcher icon graphics. It will be copied directly into the assets\_Pre_Production folder in your project (so it is not included in your APK).
- I've changed the folder location that the script needs to be pointed to. Previously you pointed it to your res folder. Now you point it to your project folder, and output is placed in the res folder or the assets folder (depending on your chosen options).
- Finally, I removed some of the options I felt were too complex for this tool.
Both the new and old versions are available:
New Android Icon Maker GIMP Script
Old Android Icon Maker GIMP Script
Instructions for installing a script-fu plugin can be found here
